The Sound of Laughter

 “You know, Pastor Tom, when you’re used to there being two of you, you miss the sound of laughter when it’s just one of you in the house.” As my friend and I hung up, what she said stayed with me the rest of the evening. Her husband is in a nursing facility, visitors are not allowed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and laughter is hard to come by. 


     It’s like this: smiles and tears are abundant, but laughter can be mighty scarce sometimes when you are limited to a few minutes of visiting through the window: no touching, no hugging, no embracing, just a hand from each held up to the window and that whispered “I love you,” before the one visiting tromps through the grass back to the parking lot and the one in residence waits for the nursing staff to come back and get him back into bed. 


     “When you’re used to there being two of you, you miss the sound of laughter when it’s just one of you in the house.” Maybe you know someone in need of a good belly laugh today to shake off the blues. Might you also know how to make that happen?


     Today our Lord might lead you to pray for health care workers in hospitals and care facilities, or to pray for families separated from a loved one, and for loved ones separated from the families. 


     It might be you know someone in need of laughter or joy or happiness, the genuine kind that doesn’t depend on circumstances but is the gift of the Holy Spirit.


     Or maybe you will be led to pray for someone or something that has weighed heavily upon your heart during these pandemic days. But how will you ever know until you pray?
God Bless and Be with you today,
—Pastor Tom